The Nuclear Family Pt. 04

My support crowd consisted primarily of Darren and Toni, as always. Amy was there but, being due with our second child in a couple of weeks, she would be sitting in the reserved VIP seating with her family. Ruth, Peter and Rayne would be sitting with her. After the fight, Peter and Rayne were coming back to our place to help Amy prepare for the delivery of our second child.

Darren was wrapping my arms when Blaine came in.

"So you're Robbie Other?" he said, looking me over. I felt like I was being judged. "You'll do," he said smugly, turning and walking away.

Darren whistled, "high praise," I looked at Darren.

"Usually, he just looks his opponents up and down, snorts and walks away," Darren told me. "I'm taking that as a good sign; he's gonna take you seriously because you could be in with a chance."

We spent the next half hour going over strategy, how I should move, how I should attack or defend. We stepped through my weaknesses and talked about what Blaine's were. Toni went out to get Amy and her family to say one last good luck before the fight, but when they arrived, they had the last person I expected with them. My mother.

"Hattie, I mean Mum, what are you doing here?" I asked, somewhat concerned and not sure if I was pissed or not.

"It was my fault, Robbie." Amy said, "Don't be mad. When we spoke the last week, I felt I needed to step in the middle, so I asked your Mum to come for just the fight."

Okay, I was now a little pissed at my very pregnant wife. I had a multitude of emotions run through my mind for moments as I looked at her. Not what I needed right before a fight.

Mum turned away, "I'm sorry, Robbie, I shouldn't have come. This was a mistake."

As she turned to leave, I wasn't thinking, stepping towards her and did the only thing I could think of. I grabbed her and hugged her to me. In moments my mother was openly sobbing in my arms. Our world contracted to just my mother and me, surrounded by the people around us. I pushed Mum back, looking into her eyes. She tried to smile, but it never quite reached her face.

"It's okay, Mum, you don't need to leave," I told her.

"Are you sure, I mean..." Mum replied questionably.

"No," I said. "It's okay, as long as it's just you, no one else."

She shook her head. "No, it's just me. I didn't tell anyone where I was going. I didn't want to take a chance that I wouldn't get to see you." She threw herself at me again. "Oh, my baby boy, I love you so much. I am so sorry for everything we did to you. We should never have treated you like we did, and we deserve everything that has happened to us."

I patted her back, unsure how to respond after all this time. "It's alright, Mum. There will be plenty of time for apologies later; right now, I need to go and win this fight. Will you sit with Amy and watch?"

She nodded. I proceeded to receive last-minute good luck wishes from everyone.

Blaine smiled at me as I entered the ring a few minutes later.

"This is going to be easier than I thought," he said, having witnessed the family moment earlier.

The bell went, and I copped a beating from the first moment. Blaine was fast for his size; his punches landed like rocks in a landslide, his kicks were well-timed. I was surprised I lasted the first round. At the bell, Darren looked at me and pushed me hard, telling me to get my head in the game.

In round two, I held my ground better, but I was still taking a pounding. I looked a couple of times over at my mother, seeing the concern on her face. Glancing at Amy, she was also concerned. My head just wasn't in this fight. Too much had happened, and seeing Mum, then her crying in my arms just had me checked out. I stammered through to the end of the round, and as I tried to pull myself together, Amy and my mother came over to me as Darren was checking me out.

I looked at Amy, then Mum and Mum did the last thing I expected. She slapped me. Hard!

I was stunned; it was likely every video camera in the place zoomed in on us.

"Robbert John Other, I did not raise no pussy of a son." She said in a matronly tone giving me what for. "I said I was sorry for what we did to you, but if it's going to make you a pussy whipped fighter, then I'll take it back. Where is the fighter we saw that night? Where is the man who knocked his older brother out and pushed him against a wall like a sack of potatoes?"

"I was angry Mum," I replied, my cheek stinging from her slap. "Seeing all of you, along with the sneering face of Brad with his hands all over Georiga, got me mad. It got me focused on wanting to fight. That anger is long gone."

"Well then, fuck it." My mother said I had never heard her use the F-word in all my years.

"Robbie, look at this." My mother thurst out her phone with a picture of Brad, Georgia, and their son.

"This fuckwit," Mum growled, "He stole your wife, impregnated her behind your back, got you to throw yourself out of the family while ridiculing you behind your back to us for years. He got your father and sister to think of you as less of a man, and yes, even I bought into his bullshit for a while.

"For fucks sake Robbie, he sent photos and videos of you fucking Georgia to Amy just to break you up. Use that anger son, use the abuse we did to you, use the fact that my oldest son is a total and complete failure as motivation and slay that Blaine guy. Kick his ass, picturing it is your brother that needs another beating. Show us that you're a man!"

With that, my Mum walked away and sat down. Amy, Toni, Darren and I just stared at her diminutive retreating form.

"Take him out my man!" Amy said, smiling, turning to follow my Mum.

"What she said," Darren told me, trying to hide the smirk on his face.

Mum's taunting worked. In the next round, I fought back to an even standing. I started moving faster. I got out of the way of the most damaging kicks and even got a few blows of my own. If I had heard the commentators, I would have heard them talking about the motivational speech that the microphone overheard during the break from my mother.

When the third round ended, I noticed that Blaine had lost some of the arrogance and was starting to fight smarter. In the fourth round, we got into each other. Blaine went down twice as he tried in vain to fight against the anger now directed at him. By the end of the fourth round, I ended up with a cut above my eye that Darren had to clip over before the fifth round. I felt I was back on an even keel with him. It had become a brutal fight, and I could hear the audience's screams in the background.

It was in the final round I made real ground. Blaine had gone hard at me early, seeing that I wasn't thinking straight, but now he was tiring. I began to work his defence, nothing fancy, just consistently working him over, pushing on his weak points. I knew we were both going to be bruised at the end of this.

I caught a few breaks, and a poorly timed kick by Blaine opened up a gap, so I got a series of blows into his midsection. A moment later, he came at me with a flurry of punches that I danced around to land another kick to his mid-section. He moved to defence, so again, I pushed him hard.

With each blow, each kick, I took my mother's advice picturing it was Brad Jnr mocking me. In place of Blaine's face, I saw my older brother taunting me about how he had Georgia had suckered me again. I was now landing blow after blow on Blaine. I heard Brad taunt me about how he found the photos on Georgia's phone and sent them to Amy to break us up.

I worked hard to control my anger, to keep it focused. Blaine had gone entirely defensive, working on surviving to the end of the round and the fight. Meanwhile, my rage continued to give me strength. The poor guy had no idea I wasn't fighting him anymore. I was now fighting an overbearing family that tried to bully me for most of my life, using me to get their way just because they could.

The fight ended with less than a minute to go. I took a breath, realised I was getting too angry, and stepped back to focus.

Blaine took that as an opening, desperately trying to throw a couple of punches at me. I was ready, and as he came at me, I feinted a jab at his already tender torso, and he dropped his hand to protect himself.

He never saw the kick coming. Like with past opponents, it caught him undefended, and he went down. He was only on his knees, but he was down and stunned. I jumped on him, knocking him to the ground in a hold until he submitted, a straight-up TKO.

The referee grabbed my hand and the microphone.

"Your winner and our Australian Champion, Robert Other!" he announced to cheers.

Before heading to the gate, I helped Blaine up, he was still stunned, but the papers for the next week would carry the image of me helping a defeated foe out of the ring. Talks of the Aussie spirit and mateship were bantered for weeks.

As I supported Blaine out to his team, he looked at me groggily.

"Who the hell were you fighting out there, champ, because it felt like it wasn't me?" he asked as one of his trainers grabbed him under the arm.

I laughed, "My older brother. It was something my mother reminded me of."

He chucked. "Well, I wouldn't want to be your brother and Robbie." He looked at me. "Thank you for a great fight. I will remember this one for a long time," he said honestly and shook my hand, smiling.

I nodded and finished handing him off to his trainers. I then had mine around me. First was Amy and a deep passionate kiss, her pregnant belly pushing against me. Next came Darren, Toni, Peter, Rayne and Ruth. Last came Mum. She looked at me demurely. I opened my arms.

"Thanks, Mum," I said quietly as she melted into my arms.

We headed into the dressing room, Darren proceeding to unwrap my arms and help me warm down. I jumped into the shower, joined moments later by my very pregnant wife. It was now a tradition that she would shower with me after a fight. And while I wanted a little hanky panky, we both knew that we couldn't after the incident with Amy in the hospital.

Drying ourselves and dressing, Amy asked if I was okay that she brought my Mum in without my approval.

I sighed, "Honestly, I was all over the place, but you did the right thing; if it weren't for Mum, I would have lost tonight."

Amy looked at me.

"Really, Amy, I might have been a little more focused in the beginning if she wasn't here. But Blaine was going to be too good for me with my mental state from the past few weeks. Mum knew how to push my buttons and reminded me of the anger I needed to stand toe to toe against someone as good as Blaine. Even though I'm good and love doing this, this is not my day job, and if not for Darren pushing me for this fight, I wouldn't have done it. But tonight, I needed that anger to win."

"Are you going to forgive her?" she asked, fitting her maternity bra against her impressive bust and pulling her shirt over her head.

"I think I did tonight when I grabbed her." I sighed. "Amy, I mean it. I am all over the place right now. I don't know what Mum means to me going forward. I know I can say I forgive her, but I don't know what's next, and I can tell you that I am nowhere near forgiveness for the rest of them. Dad and Brad especially."

I sat down, putting my shoes on. Amy lent over and hugged me. Her soft breasts against my neck, gosh, I love my wife.

"It's alright, baby; I don't think I have forgiveness in my heart for the rest of them either. But know that with whatever you decide, I'll be right here with you supporting you."

We continued talking while we finished dressing, everyone else standing outside the locker room with security guards. I had people asking for my autograph, a first for me. Reporters were asking about the fight. A few even tried talking to my mother, who was stunned by the attention. As I made my way to the post-fight interview, security kept everyone at arm's length.

"Robbie, Is everything your mother said to you during the fight tonight true?" one of the reporters asked as I sat down.

The question caught me off guard. I had forgotten that microphones pick up things in the ring. Often in these televised events, they would play snippets of trainers guiding the fighters, but I suppose it's the first time they have picked up anything as juicy as my family scandal.

"Uh, sorry, everyone, that was a private matter, and if I can ask everyone to respect a little privacy, that would be great," I said in reply, knowing that it would drive them apeshit to find out details but would give me a little breathing room tonight.

"Mr Other," the next reporter began. "Is it true that your mother slapped you?"

I laughed, "Guys, that one is pretty obvious if you were watching tonight", I replied as the gaggle of reporters bustled from the question. "I just said that much of what you want to ask me about is private. Yes, I know it was recorded and is out there, but tonight everything kind of happened all at once. I would like time to review and come back with responses that can remove the immediate emotions and be explained rationally.

"But I will admit that yes, there have been several issues in my family, just like every family over the years. Yes, those issues had a factor in my fight tonight. However, please let me get things straight. If you want, after my wife has our second child, I would be willing to sit down with each of your networks and talk if you can give my wife and I some space. But for right now, I am tired after an amazing fight, and I want to take care of my family.

"If there are further questions about the fight itself and not my family, I am happy to discuss." I finished.

That shut most of the reporters down, and everyone informally agreed to hold on to the family angle for a couple of days. I knew it wouldn't hold for long, though; more than likely, every news outlet would be investigating the Other family very soon.

[:::: - ::::]

Sarah Marie Other was born into this world two weeks after the big fight. She was perfect and came into the world screaming like a banshee until she was placed on Amy's breast and began nursing. Amy was tired after another long labour, twenty-two hours, but she came through it like a champion. She was exhausted, but my wife had a glow that told me how much she was in love with her daughter. I kissed her, telling her how proud of her I was. Darren and Toni brought William in, and together we all ohh'd and ahh'd over Sarah.

The next few days saw visits from many of the team at ALRO and ALRO Homes, in addition to Peter, Rayne and Ruth. However, still fresh from the fight, several reporters tried to meet our daughter. The fight had drawn a lot of attention. The win was huge from an Australian sports point of view, but my family scandal, to everyone's dismay, was an even larger trending topic on social media.

It was so much of a scandal that my father had kicked my mother out of their house for conspiring with the enemy after reporters wouldn't leave them alone. The enemy, of course, was me. So in a very awkward fashion, we had my mother sign a privacy agreement, and she was brought into our lives.

Mum was staying in one of the spare bedrooms, doting on William when she had the chance and was suitably impressed with the infant form of my daughter. Initially, when either Amy or I were in the room, it was awkward because there was still a lot of hurt between us, but Mum had endured a lot of awkward situations over the years and took it all in stride. I don't know that I would ever have a genuine relationship with my mother again, but she had apologised that night and followed up with a few further apologies as we got ready for Sarah's birth.

One different thing, though, is that I noticed that Mum was never focused if she wasn't spoiling William or trying to tiptoe around Amy and me with Sarah. I found her more than once out on the balcony overlooking the ocean with a glass, staring into the distance.

It was those times when I found her on the balcony that we really talked. Mum spoke of her hurt, pain and regret of seeing our family split up. When my parents had told me that first evening that they had often debated about telling me of Georgia and Brad's affair, my Mum wanted to figure out how to tell me, but Dad always said no. He viewed that I needed to keep making money for them all, and Mum apologised for not being strong enough to stand up to Dad.

In one of our chats, she explained that when Brad got Georgia pregnant, there was a huge family meeting where they arranged for me to fly to Perth for three nights to fix a delivery issue with something Joanna did wrong. Mum told me that everyone was arguing with each other at the meeting. Georgia and my mother wanted to tell me, they knew it would break me, but they wanted to tell me. But my father, brother and sister argued against it. I might not have been wanted in the family, but I was also the golden calf. They couldn't upset the status quo even though none of them genuinely thought of me as part of the family.

Mum told me my father made Georgia go home with Brad that night, and all Georgia's objections disappeared. My mother was threatened with divorce if she didn't comply, and to her shame, she told me she bowed to peer pressure, but no one knew that from that night onwards, my parents never slept in the same bed again; Mum moved into spare bedroom and Dad wouldn't budge.

The night I found out and confronted my parents, what I took for rejection from my mother, was guilt and abject humiliation pilled on her from my father. Brad had called Mum and Dad right after I stormed out after finding my brother in bed with Georgia. Dad forcefully told Mum not to say or do anything, or she would regret it and never see her grandchild. He told Mum that if I didn't fall in line, then I was out of the family. Of course, I ended up removing myself before he could make good on that threat.

Every time Mum and I talked over those months; she would weep. Regret was deeply ingrained in her, and she would seek forgiveness from me every time. But tonight, as we started talking, she was strangely lacking in emotion, more monotone. There were no tears at the beginning of our chat. As we spoke, I looked out over the horizon noting that the moon would be full tonight. We both watched the skyline, looking out over the balcony at the sun setting over the ocean.

As Mum sipped her wine, I noticed she was straining to look at me. I had observed that a few times over the past few weeks. Mum was there, but she also wasn't. I sipped my drink as I contemplated the situation.

I was sitting with my mother. My body was almost recovered from the fight with Blaine, my son was happy, my daughter beautiful, my wife amazing and my anchor. I had my mother back in my life somewhat.

Mum interrupted my thoughtful reprieve.

"Robbie, I know I have said how sorry I am, but I also want to thank you," Mum told me at one point after a long silence as we continued to watch the sunset.

I looked at Mum questionably.

"You took a chance a couple of months ago with me," she told me. "You easily could have turned me away, and I would have left, but I have had the opportunity to meet my wonderful grandchildren. I have the fortune to see how well you fared after everything."

Mum smiled more to herself than anything. "I also got to see your beautiful bride and how happy she makes you. I am so glad to see your connection with Amy goes deeper than it ever did with Georgia.

"Lastly, I got the opportunity to somewhat reconnect with you. I know it's been difficult, But you have made an effort, and I'm thankful." She stared at the ocean, a single tear rolling down her cheek. "Now, I can die peacefully."

I caught that last part.

"Mum, what did you say," I replied, placing my drink on the table, the question implicit.